Professor of World Politics, University of Helsinki

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Bio and Contact

At the University of Helsinki, I am Full Professor of World Politics. I used to work as Head of the Political Science Department and Research Director of the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research and at Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

My research ranges from global political economy to transnational social movements. I try to make my research available also for audiences beyond strictly academic circles. I give frequent media interviews and public talks, and try to be active in social media. Feel free to check out some of my recent TV interviews.

Over the years, I have received a few awards. The most recent international one was Amartya Sen Prize that Yale University gave in 2015 for an article co-authored by Matti Ylönen and me. The article was on Politics of Intra-Firm Trade.

Thereafter, I have received Academy of Finland’s Recognition Award; University of Helsinki’s J.V. Snellman Award; Left Women’s Pro Feminism Award; and Ovet Award of Aleksanteri Institute for advancing the understanding of Russia. The latter ones also reflect the fact that I have tried to connect my research with active engagements in various public debates. In 2016, together with Maria Manner, we received honorary award by Lauri Jäntti Foundation for our book Brasilia.

Before my current appointment in Helsinki, I spent various years as Director of Programa Democracia y Transformación Global and professor at the postgraduate unit at San Marcos University in Peru. I founded the program in 2002 and it has thereafter become increasingly energetic and connected to social transformations. In Peru, I have also been Visiting Professor of Economics at Catholic University.

It was an honor to work as Distinguished Visiting Professor of international development studies at Saint Mary’s University in Canada. A very pleasant place, and an amazing hub for critical development scholarship.

During the golden years of world-systems studies, I was a Visiting Scholar of Department of Sociology and Visiting Research Associate of the Fernand Braudel Center, at State University of New York at Binghamton.

During 2014 I was Visiting Professor of State University of Rio de Janeiro, at one of the most important Brazilian social science research centers, IESP.

I have been active in various professional associations, perhaps most intensely in International Studies Association where I formed part of its Governing Council and chaired its International Political Economy Section. In 2017, I started chairing its Robert W. & Jessie Cox Award Committee.

You can also find about my professional life, including my long experience as senior consultant for international organizations, governments, social movements and trade unions, in my LinkedIn profile (not updated all that often, though).

I still sometimes engage in an occasional project evaluation or other kind of consultancy gig. On behalf of Network Institute for Global Democratisation, I am a founding member of the International Council of the World Social Forum since 2001.

My research, lectures and curiosity have taken me to over 130 countries.

As I have started using Twitter quite actively, you can also follow me there or just have a look at my tweets that sometimes create confusion or debate.

My general contact details are:

E-mail: teivo.teivainen(at)helsinki.fi

Cell phone: +358-50-3505120

Twitter: @TeivoTeivainen

Snail mail: Department of Political and Economic Studies, Unioninkatu 37, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.